Computing power to become a new engine for related industry

Photo Source: people.cn - Renmin Ribao 

Recently, the State Information Center and Inspur Electronic Information Industry Co., Ltd. jointly released the Guideline for Innovative Development of Intelligent Computing Centers (the Guideline for short below). The Guideline showed that at present, more than 30 cities are building or have proposed to build intelligent computing centers. The innovative development of intelligent computing centers is expected to become a new engine driving the rapid development of AI and related industries.

With the booming development of the digital economy, new digital things, new business forms and new models promote the diversified development of application scenarios, the scale of computing power keeps expanding, and the demand for computing power continues to rise. Data from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology showed that in 2022, the number of in-service server racks of data centers across the country exceeded 6.5 million. In the past five years, the average annual growth rate of China's total computing power has exceeded 25%.

At 2022 China International Fair for Trade in Services (CIFTIS), a mobile data compartment based on application scenarios on a smart construction site can meet the needs for smart inspection, water pollution monitoring, etc., realizing the digital and intelligent management of construction projects. GTVerse, a metaverse concept that integrates cloud computing and edge computing, can create an immersive viewing experience with just a less than 20-millisecond delay as if transporting the audience to a football field. All of these have made us deeply feel that the rapid advance of digital technologies is changing every aspect of economic development, social governance and personal life. And computing power is an important basis for digital technology innovation and digital economy development.

At the China Intelligent Industry Forum held during this year's CIFTIS, Wu Zhongze, former Vice Minister of Science and Technology and member of the Education, Science, Culture and Public Health Committee of the 11th National People's Congress, pointed out in his speech that a new round of scientific and technological revolution and industrial transformation is accelerating. The fundamental purpose of enterprise digital transformation is to drive the innovation of R&D models, business models and products, and ultimately to provide users with a better experience at lower cost and higher efficiency by relying on the powerful connection, aggregation, analysis and other capabilities of digital technology.

Su Bo, Deputy Director of the Economic Affairs Committee of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) and former Vice Minister of Industry and Information Technology, said in his speech that China has transformed to a new stage of high-quality development. We should accelerate system innovation, actively implement the strategies to strengthen China's strength in manufacturing, cyberspace and big data development, and speed up the development of new infrastructure such as big data, artificial intelligence, industrial Internet, 5G, cloud computing, to build a solid foundation for the rapid development of new technologies, industries and business forms.

Li Jie, Deputy Director of the CAICT Cloud Computing & Big Data Research Institute, stated in her speech that China's intelligent computing centers still face huge challenges in their development. First of all, the domestic AI chip ecosystem is still to be improved, as diverse systems exist in the market and they are incompatible, which to a certain extent has hindered the market-oriented application of China's independently developed AI chips. Additionally, the huge energy consumption generated from high power-consuming GPUs and intelligent computing centers has posed a great challenge for such centers in pursuing green development.

● 中国国际服务贸易交易会由中华人民共和国商务部和北京市人民政府共同主办。

● 中国国际服务贸易交易会是全球首个国家级、国际性、综合型服务贸易交易会，是服务业、服务贸易的展示窗口、交流平台、合作桥梁。

● China International Fair for Trade in Services (CIFTIS) is co-hosted by the Ministry of Commerce of the People’s Republic of China and the People’s Government of Beijing Municipality. 

● CIFTIS is the first state-level global comprehensive fair for trade in services, serving as an exhibition window, communication platform and cooperation bridge for the service industry and trade in services.